homestead

A homestead consists of a dwelling, often a farm house together with other buildings and associated land. Historically it referred to land claimed by settler or squatter under the Homestead Act (USA) or Dominion Lands Act (Canada). A homestead may be a ranch, station or a large agricultural operation of some other designation. In Old English the term was used to mean a human settlement, and in Southern Africa the term is used for a cluster of several houses normally occupied by a single extended family.